I haven’t done Saturday Parts or Saturday Stuff in a long time, so I figure now’s as good a time as any to share pictures that I don’t know what to do with or don’t fit in a post of their own.

The ducklings. Back when innocence ruled and they all sought each other out for comfort. I think this photo was probably taken sometime in June of last year:
This jack used to live on the other side of the alfalfa pasture behind Morning Bray Farm:

Sadly, he was alone and brayed a lot, especially after Gracie came to live with us. We called him the “donkey in the distance” or DITD (Diddy). Later, because we believe that all donkeys deserve dignified names, we named him Eugene and called him E. Diddy. We walked to visit with him and give him scritches every weekend. He’s gone now; we don’t know what happened to him.

And last for this week, a nest in our barn. I’ve never seen a “sideways nest” and am wondering what kind of bird this might belong to. Sparrows, maybe?

If you’re one of the minority out there who actually checks the Morning Bray Farm egg counter, you might have noticed a recent drop in the number of eggs that Emmy and Izzy have been laying.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the girls were laying eggs for us like gangbusters. But so far in March? Only four eggs. And three of the four eggs didn’t have a shell, only a rubbery membrane.

While Emmy and Izzy otherwise seem fine, the sudden change was very worrisome. I scoured the Internet for possible reasons, but wasn’t able to find any good answers.

Earlier this week, I took a trip to the feed store to see if Junior; our local expert, had any ideas. When I explained that our girls had laid like crazy over the winter and had suddenly stopped, a puzzled look came over his face. “Your girls should just now be starting to lay. They shouldn’t have laid eggs over the winter,” Junior said. Uh-oh.

Our duck expert’s first question to me related to *light*. It was then I had to tell him (shamefully) that our ducks were kept in lighted conditions 24/7 the entire winter. “Yes, we keep heat lamps on in the barn when it’s cold – for both our goats and the ducks,” I said.

Junior explained to me the significance light has on egg production, and we figured that Emmy’s and Izzy’s sudden decline in laying coincided with when I stopped leaving the heat lamps on overnight a couple of weeks ago. Crap.

An increasing day length (January – June) brings sexually mature ducks into egg production and a decreasing day length (July – December) slows or stops their egg production. When I started leaving the heat lamps on, I increased day length for our girls and they ramped up their egg laying. When I stopped leaving the heat lamps on, I decreased their day length and they stopped laying eggs.

If only we knew what we don’t know. Junior said it’ll be a little while before they start laying again. Uh-oh.

Although these waterfowl relish swimming when given the opportunity, they tend to be more terrestrial than other domestic ducks and their feathers seem to have less waterproofing. As a consequence, a pond isn’t necessary for Muscovies and can even pose a hazard during icy winters, when these ducks of tropical origin may become chilled or suffer frostbite.

9/27 Update: The girls gifted us with a double-yolker right out of the gate.

Don fried it up for us last night. Delish! The consistency of the egg white was extremely thick, but Don said it tasted just like a fresh chicken egg.

As for me, my mind played games with me at first, thanks to my dear husband. After I took my first bite, Don said, “Why are you eating your grandchildren?!”

Aaack! Once I got past that, I agreed with him. It was a delicious, fresh egg. Not gamey or weird at all.

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9/26 Post: We irrigated our pasture yesterday for one of the last times this season. We’ve gotten into the habit of putting the ducks out in the pasture on irrigation days because they love being ducks.

We found everyone and got them into the pasture, but Izzy was nowhere to be found. Finally, Don found her under a holly bush near the house. I heard him gently shoo her from where she sat and then heard him exclaim, “Oh my!”

Here’s what Izzy was sitting on:

Once Izzy was out in the pasture being a duck, I collected the eggs and took them into the house. The three smaller eggs were cold, but the large egg was warm. I figured that means Izzy had just laid it.

Oh, the eggcitement!

Just look at what Izzy did:

Pretty impressive, don’t you think? Once I finished oohing and aahing over the eggs, I put them in an egg carton to store in the refrigerator. The lid didn’t close all the way on the corner where Izzy’s egg sat:

Thank you, sweet Izzy:

Thank you, sweet Hillary:

And thank you in advance, sweet Emmy:

Our next step is getting the girls to use the nesting boxes in Duckingham Palace:

We irrigated our pasture yesterday for one of the last times this season. We’ve gotten into the habit of putting the ducks out in the pasture on irrigation days because they love being ducks.

We found everyone and got them into the pasture, but Izzy was nowhere to be found. Finally, Don found her under a holly bush near the house. I heard him gently shoo her from where she sat and then heard him exclaim, “Oh my!”

Here’s what Izzy was sitting on:

Once Izzy was out in the pasture being a duck, I collected the eggs and took them into the house. The three smaller eggs were cold, but the large egg was warm. I figured that means Izzy had just laid it.

Oh, the eggcitement!

Just look at what Izzy did:

Pretty impressive, don’t you think? Once I finished oohing and aahing over the eggs, I put them in an egg carton to store in the refrigerator. The lid didn’t close all the way on the corner where Izzy’s egg sat:

Thank you, sweet Izzy:

Thank you, sweet Hillary:

And thank you in advance, sweet Emmy:

Our next step is getting the girls to use the nesting boxes in Duckingham Palace:

Like this:

There’s a new duck at Morning Bray Farm. We’ve named her Emily – or Emmy – for the emerald color of her feathers.

She looks like the female version of Jake the drake. Here’s Jake:

Here you can see the size difference between Jake and Emmy:

We think Emmy is slightly younger than the rest of the flock because she’s a tad bit smaller than Izzy and Hillary. She’s settling in quite nicely though.

Don and I decided to get another duck because our four drakes (boys) were constantly “bothering” our two ducks (girls). Poor Izzy and Hillary couldn’t catch a break from Alfie, Oliver, Jake and Gussie.

Here’s Izzy and Hillary now. They’re getting into their pool for a leisurely bath:

Of course Izzy couldn’t wait one second more to get into her bath:

They’re all growing up so fast. As I was taking pictures yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice how handsome Oliver has become.

More than any of the others, Oliver loves to show off his crest.

In Muscovies, both sexes can raise the feathers on top of their heads into a crest when they’re excited, flirting or angry. The male’s crest feathers are longer and stylishly waved.